CH 4

A Convenient Predicament For Me

Dream Side

.

“… Hey …Get a grip ……… Yumeji!!”

“Uu… Un… Ha!?”

It took me a few seconds to realize that the woman’s voice, which sounded like she was calling me from afar, was actually yelling in my ear.

Apparently, I was asleep while standing, and I hurriedly rubbed my eyes.

“My bad, was I put to sleep!?”

“It’s only a few minutes. Good morning Nebosuke-san*.” (TL: sleepyhead)

She says this while standing next to me, holding her wand up to the “enemy” so as not to give them an opening.

The enemy, a group of goblins in front of us, a type of low-grade demon beast that is said to be the baptism of new adventurers, usually attacks in groups.

“” “Gigi Gigi …” “”

Of the five menacing goblins, I could only see one holding a staff. He is a mage goblin, a type of goblin who can use low level magic, and is probably the one who cast the “Sleep” spell on me.

“Shit~ I didn’t mean to let my guard down”

“Pull yourself together. I can’t even chant without the vanguard!”

As she said this, she started chanting again.

A spell is needed to activate the magic, and a time lag inevitably occurs during the chanting. The vanguard protects the mage and buys time, while the mage wipes out the enemy with powerful spells.

That’s how we’ve been keeping our lives together for the past few months.

The goblins are also protecting the mage goblins in groups, and the vanguard is attacking physically, but they are not skilled enough in spells, and their strength is weak.

“UORAAA!!”

“”GIGIGYA!?””

I blew off the three goblins that came to me with the mallet I had in my hand, and smashed into the goblin who is holding the bow with the goblin mage who was aiming for me.

“” Gabi !? Gabi !!? “”

It was a coincidence but I was lucky!

“Amane, now !!”

“Leave it to me! Fire !!”

Just as the chanting ended, Amane unleashed the only spell she could currently use, a low-grade fire spell, just as the five of them conveniently came together.

At that moment, with a sound similar to an explosion, the five demon beasts let out a strange cry and burst into flames.

“” “” GYABAGAGAGAGA ………… “” “”

A few minutes later, we were recovering the horns, a sign of subjugation, from the charred goblins.

By the way, the corpse is buried properly.

If you don’t, it could attract other demon beasts, and if you’re not careful, they could become an Undead.

It’s a natural division of labor, with Amane collecting the horns and me burying them.

…… Well, burying them is hard work.

“Collecting horns is ok. This will be the dinner fee for today, right?”

“10G per horn… we earned 50G…”

One day on our way home from school, Amane and I were summoned to this world without any explanation, and we spent our time as adventurers as we were carried along.

It’s what’s called “Another World Transfer” … Ha, Ha, Ha…

“Haa………”

“What’s with that… sigh?”

“Hmm? Ah, no, I was thinking~, isn’t a standard for these kinds of Another World Transfer to have a privilege from the gods or a useful skill from the start that makes it easy to complete the event and have a blast~”

“You~’re saying that again? You don’t know when to give up~.”

“Because it’s a different world where monsters and magic exist, and there is no privilege or hints, and then thrown out, that doesn’t make any sense!!”

Yes, we were sent into this world without any kind of “first time bonus” event, such as a mission or someone’s intention, we were just sent into this world.

At first, we were in the forest, and then we both barely made it to the human village, and we “had no choice” but to become an adventurer, a job we could do without any money or connections.

I was surprisingly talented as a “Warrior” and Amane was also surprisingly talented as a “Mage”, but to be honest, it took us a few months to be able to take on that group of goblins.

There is no such thing as a cheat….. it was just the fruit of hard work.

However, contrary to my grumble, Amane smiles bitterly.

“Don’t say that, because we’re lucky enough to live.”

I can even see she even has a kind of leeway. Good grief… Compared to a few months ago, the more things change, the more they change.

A few months ago, just after Amane and I came home from school and bumped into each other in front of our house, we were suddenly brought to this world by a magic circle that appeared with a bright light from under our feet.

Because we were completely estranged at the time, we didn’t talk much at first, and to put it bluntly, our relationship was awkward and strained.

However, once we realized that we were in a different world where monsters were rampant, there was no time for years of feuding and awkwardness.

Seriously, the situation is out of our control unless we work together to survive. In a way, it was fortuitous that I was able to talk to Amane as a “Companion” because of this.

“I wanted to make up in a more relaxed direction.”

“What, staring at a person’s face and mumbling”

The expression on her face was dissatisfied, but it was much closer to the expression she used to give me in my childhood days than the one I had seen in Japan.

With that in mind, I can’t help but think that this was all right.

“No, I just thought that if things change, they change. A few months ago, we didn’t even speak to each other, and now we’re making a living hunting demons together.”

“… I just could say it’s because in a life or death situation.”

When I said that, Amane suddenly looked away awkwardly.

Seeing her gesture, I suddenly thought that I could ask her now.

Something that’s been on my mind for a long time.

“By the way … Why did we stop talking when we were in Japan? I don’t remember …”

“…………”

I try to be as casual as possible when I ask, but in reality, my body is shaking, I’m sweating and my heart is racing.

Since I’ve said it out loud, maybe coming to the other world will cause the loss of the relationship between us that we’ve been able to repair even temporarily…… and my knees started to tremble.

“…………”

Amane turned away silently and I said, “I shouldn’t have said it!?” I almost regretted what I said a few seconds ago.

“I-I’m sorry! It’s okay if you don’t want to say it. I mean, maybe I did something and that’s why!? If so, I’m really sorry !!”

The cause of the problem is me, but the parties involved have forgotten about it… If it was such a case, the question now is like pouring oil on the fire.

However, when I was thinking about Dogeza at that moment, I heard words of frustration and denial.

“…Why does Yumeji apologize? I was the one who distanced myself first.”

“…………Is that so?”

At my words, Amane nodded a little and looked downward.

“…When I was in elementary school, when I was playing with my friends, I had a topic about you… I answered about you using nickname*… I was teased…” (TL: adana: a familiar name for a person (often a shortened version of a person’s given name))

She told me stories that would have been common in anyone’s childhood.

When the girls, who were more precocious than the boys, became curious about every love affair, Amane provided a convenient topic.

However, if she had been a little older, she would have been able to play it off lightly, but she was still very young and her shame caused her to move in the direction of “denial” and “rejection”.

In front of her friend, “I don’t get along with my boy childhood friend!”  And took an attitude like that. From that point on, not only did she stop playing with me, she blatantly stopped talking to me.

It’s usually a common occurrence on the male side.

At that time, I was also shocked, but I started to hang out with other male friends, so I let it go.

But I was deeply relieved to hear the truth from Amane herself.

“Maybe she hated me.” I could feel the weight that had been weighing down on me deep in my heart disappearing just because of that fact.

“All of a sudden you stopped coming to the secret base, you stopped talking to me, and you blatantly avoided me… I thought I was really hated.”

“That… I’m really sorry. I stopped talking to you on my own and avoided you, so I felt like Yumeji was always staring at me… that … scared me…”

“…Ha?”

A voice that is too stupid leaks from my mouth. Her gesture that I thought was “frowning and looking away”, and it turned out it was “being driven by guilt”… How many years have we been creating a useless rift?

“I consulted to Suzu-nee many times ……… and she’s helped me a lot, but it didn’t work.”

“Consulted to Suzu-nee…”

I was almost losing strength and be unable to stand by Amane’s story.

At that moment, I remembered… Suzu-nee’s indescribably dumbfounded expression, and her constant reminder, “Come to the store as a customer together”, if she knew the situation, probably she said with mean “Quickly make up dan come to store together” …

“Ha… hahaha​​……… What a useless detour we’ve taken…”

“What?”

When Amane tilted her head curiously, I told her that I had talked to Suzu-nee about it a lot, and she let out a deep sigh.

“Suzu-nee… she should have told me about that…”

“I think she thought it was tactless? If she was the one who said it”

When I think about it, Suzu-nee has given me all kinds of advice and has been a bridge between the two of us, providing us with many opportunities.

This is our fault… no, my fault, for not using it properly.

It’s just that I was too gutless to even start talking to a girl until I had experienced the danger of death in another world.

“…Waiting for chance is useless.”

“That’s right…!?”

The moment Amane nodded, as if calling out my feelings, a “non-human” kind of bloodthirst appeared from behind us.

“””” Gaga Gaga !! “”””

Instantly, a swarm of goblins attacked me from the bushes behind me.

As usual, I swung the mallet in my hand to buy time for Amane’s spell chanting.

“I’m counting on you, partner!”

“Yes Yes, the same to you!!”